Am I missing something - misleading info about EVs?

robatwork

Just renewed my car tax on gov.uk and clicked the link to find out more about Electric Vehicles. 

This took me to https://www.goultralow.com/ev-owners/benefits/?govuk=B where I quote "While the price of an EV may be similar to most comparable petrol or diesel cars, the cost of running one is significantly cheaper particularly over the full lifetime of the vehicle".

I have no issue with the second half of the sentence, but the first half....surely this is just, plain, wrong. 

For example I checked the Nissan Leaf, bog standard hatchback, even with a grant is going to cost £26k. That's a lot more than much bigger petrol or diesel cars in Nissan's range. And a lot more than equivalents in its range from Ford (Focus), Toyota etc. Unless I'm missing something fundamental?

DrEskimo

Sort of...generally they are more expensive, but not as much as people suggest. 

Once you account for the trim level, options, and compare with equivalent engines for performance and automatic gearboxes, the price differences aren't that stark.

My used Zoe was only a couple of grand more expensive than an equivalent Clio with the larger petrol engine and auto gearbox in the same trim level.